Mr Kipling Apple Pies 1985

Mr Kipling is a brand of cakes, pies and baked goods widely marketed in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The trademark is owned by Premier Foods, after its acquisition of Rank Hovis McDougall (RHM) in 2007.

In 1967, at a time when cakes were more often bought from local bakers, the company introduced cakes of a local baker’s standard to supermarkets. With advertising using the phrase “exceedingly good cakes”, and television commercials which originally featured the voice of actor James Hayter, the brand had become the market leader in the UK by 1976, a position it still holds over thirty years later. Varieties of single-serving and individually wrapped cakes have also been marketed.

In the early 2000s, the Mr Kipling brand was moved away from its familiar design, and for about a year a modern logo, consisting of a red oval with “Mr Kipling” in a script font inside the oval, was used. The slogan was modified to simply “Exceedingly Good” and the descriptions of cakes on the back of the packaging was altered so that it no longer appeared as if it were written by Mr Kipling.

Around 2005, the manufacturers briefly experimented with another new logo and a striking pack design: pack-fronts simply consisting of the words “Mr Kipling”, the name of the cake, and the phrase “Exceedingly good cakes” in a more formal, classic typeface; the only image of the cake on each pack-front was a close-up of one part of it, used as a background image for the entire pack. Around the same time, the write-ups on the back of their packaging once again purported to be written by the person of Mr Kipling. Shortly afterwords, however, the pack design and brand image whole-heartedly returned to its roots. The current logo is very closely based on the original one, featuring a traditional-style font in a gold-edged shape, the packs feature images of the cake(s), and various product features and write-ups are featured on the pack-front. In 2009, the pack designs were slightly revamped, with more emphasis put on the name of each product; the write-ups on the back of the pack no longer purport to be written by Mr Kipling.

In recent years, the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil has been phased out in many Mr Kipling cakes.

Mr Kiplings Cakes are made by the RHM subsidiary known as Manor Bakeries Ltd. which also produces products under the Lyon’s and Cadbury names. The Cadbury cakes are produced under licence from Cadbury Schweppes plc the owners of the brand name.

The company says, “Mr Kipling exists in the hearts and minds of Manor Bakeries’ employees and all cake lovers, but not in fact as a real person. He was created over 30 years ago to represent the exceedingly good cakes the company was producing and now encapsulates everything the brand stands for, and personifies what is good about the company – its vision, its values and insistence on quality.”

However it is rumoured that Mr Kipling actually did exist. And that Seamus Kipling, an Irish Immigrant living in London, actually founded the cake firm in the early 20th Century. His name has been deleted from history after a bout of insanity caused him to create some exceedingly unusual varieties of cake (Irish Stew Fancies, Victoria Sponge with Guinness cream, Cabbage pies). His best creation was saved for his good lady wife Molly Kipling (nee Cumbor). Upon the event of Molly’s 60th birthday, Seamus presented her with a cake laced with poitin. It really was exceedingly good….